How do we celebrate pongal

Pongal is one of the most famous southindian festival. Here is how we celebrate it in my inlaws home. Pongal is celebrated for 3 days of which 2nd day is the main festival during which rice is boiled with fresh milk and jaggery in new pots, which are later topped with brown sugar, cashew nuts and raisins early in the morning and allowing it to boil over the vessel. Later the cooked rice along with various vegetables is displayed in the front hall of the house in banana leaves in memory of our ancestors.The best part is, after that the food in the banana leaves will be share and ate by everybody in the house. To tell the truth, I havent tasted such a tasty food like that in my life.

The third day is for offering thanks to cattle, as they help farmer in different ways for agriculture. On this day the cattle are decorated with paint, flowers and bells. They are allowed to roam free and fed sweet rice and sugar cane .